Monday 20th July 2009Britain's leading conservative blog | |
| Today's top ConservativeHome features ToryDiary: A Conservative Government would scrap the Financial Services Authority Howard Flight on Platform: The Conservatives must bravely approach the General Election with a credible plan to cut back Labour’s unrealistic borrowing requirements
Local Government: £500 million wasted in Birmingham job creation schemes Weekend Highlights from ConservativeHome Labour 15 and 17 points adrift of the Tories in two new polls How Labour is trying to turn foxhunting into an issue at the Norwich North by-election Lord Ashcroft attacks Labour "hypocrisy" on banning political donations by Commonwealth non-doms Some Advice for David Cameron on creating a Government Of All the Talents Today's other newslinks
"The business secretary said that Labour would seek to protect defence spending if it won the general election and that this contrasted with the stance of the Tories, who have made it clear that the Ministry of Defence is not one of the two departments that would be exempt from spending cuts under a David Cameron regime. The claim is surprising, because Whitehall is braced for deep cuts in most departments after the poll, and Mandelson's main purpose may have been to intensify divisions among the Conservatives, some of whom believe Cameron should be doing more to protect the defence budget." - Guardian > Recent ToryDiary: You can't win a war on a peacetime budget ...as a report suggests that the next government will have to "tax or axe" to spare health from spending cuts... "A joint study by the King's Fund and the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said even deep cuts across other Whitehall departments during post-recession austerity could fail to prevent a widening of the health spending gap between Britain and other European countries. The two main political parties have been engaged in a row about future spending plans since the budget in April, but today's report said the victor of the next election would be forced to raise taxes or take the axe to other areas of spending in order to meet the health commitment." - Guardian > Recent ToryDiary: 63% of voters say Tory line on increasing NHS spending is wrong ...and George Osborne admits taxes may have to rise to balance the books "The shadow chancellor said that he would prefer to see significant cuts in spending in order to balance the books, promising a "culture change" throughout government to restore the public finances. But... Mr Osborne was unable to rule out tax rises altogether. Promising that a future Conservative administration would see government do "more for less," he also confirmed that the party leadership had been examining the Canadian experience, where the Ottawa government slashed spending by as much as a third in a dramatic move to tackle spiralling debt." - Daily Telegraph
"The Conservatives have called for an "abstinence-based" approach to drug rehabilitation, after uncovering figures showing that fewer than 4% of addicts undergoing treatment become drug-free each year. Figures released by the Department of Health showed that of 193,600 people receiving drug treatment in 2007/08... just 7,324 (3.8%) of those treated were discharged drug-free, while 17,306 (8.9%) completed their course without being classified clean of drugs, 19.591 (10.1%) dropped out, 4,240 (2.2%) went to prison and 784 (0.4%) died, according to monitoring by the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse. Conservative home affairs spokesman James Brokenshire, who obtained the figures in answer to a parliamentary question, said: "These stark figures highlight just how much Labour has failed to break the cycle of addiction." - Press Association David Cameron wants the Parliament Square "peace camp" disbanded "A Tory government would attempt to remove the long standing peace camp in Parliament Square, David Cameron says. The Tory leader said he was in favour of free speech but the square had been turned into a "pretty poor place" and it was time to say "enough is enough". - BBC Lansley calls or consistent advice on swine 'flu “It is important for the Chief Medical Officer to coordinate advice with the medical associations in the middle of an escalating flu epidemic. Consistent accurate advice is very important. I have not heard from previous experts that pregnant woman should avoid going out, apart from the fact the advice seems to be disproportional against the scale of the outbreak we have seen.” - Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley quoted in the Daily Telegraph
"Tax reform as part of the wider recognition of marriage in the public realm would be a good example of a “nudge” to behaviour. Nudge, Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein’s book calling for this approach, got a warm welcome across the political spectrum. The main argument does not, however, depend on any nudge to behaviour. It is simply that it is unjust not to recognise the legal commitment to maintain someone else when the tax authorities are deciding on your tax liability." - David Willetts MP writing in The Times > Last week's ToryDiary: A £20-a-week reward for marriage is a lot of money if your disposable income is £87-a-week Patrick Mercer demands new inquest into death of David Kelly "I'm deeply unhappy with the events that led up to the intervention in Iraq. I think there is still much to be disclosed about the death of Dr David Kelly. A new inquiry would probably be cumbersome but an inquest would allow evidence to be presented and witnesses interviewed in a quicker and more cost effective fashion." - Patrick Mercer MP quoted in the Daily Mail The Mirror claims the 2005 Tory intake was "the most extreme for a generation" "The voting record of the 49 Tory MPs elected for the first time in 2005 shows they are mostly oldfashioned Thatcherites and strongly against social reform... Only three of 49 Tories elected for the first time four years ago voted in favour of allowing gay couples to adopt. And 41 of the class of 2005 want the upper limit for abortion cut from 24 weeks to 22." - The Mirror Norwich North by-election candidates feel strength of voters' anger "It seems likely that Chloe Smith will, at the tender age of 27, become the new MP for Norwich North this Thursday. If she does, David Cameron — who has thrown everything at winning, including a record number of visits — will declare a famous victory. But the by-election — the first parliamentary contest after the MPs’ expenses scandal — shows how candidates are being forced to camouflage their Westminster credentials." - The Times Ballor papers sent out in Totnes Open Primary "Ballot papers are being sent to all 69,000 voters in Totnes to help choose a replacement Tory candidate to contest the seat in the next general election." - BBC > Last week in Seats and Candidates: Totnes Tories shortlist three candidates Boris Johnson: The world is so risk averse that I will never see a man walk on Mars "The tragedy of our age is that the lawyer-ridden western world is 100 times more phobic and more paranoid than the generation that flew to the Moon." - Boris Johnson writing in the Daily Telegraph Damian McBride breaks his silence on "Smear-gate" "Damian McBride, the Downing Street aide who quit over Tory e-mail smears, says Gordon Brown was so angry about the messages he could hardly speak. In his first broadcast interview since he resigned, the former special adviser told the BBC he was ashamed of the lurid e-mails he wrote from Number 10." - BBC McBride is also interviewed today by Media Guardian James Purnell: "New Labour became too much of a sect" - The former Cabinet minister writes in The Guardian Sir Alan Sugar to take up Lords seat today - Daily Express
"Mayor of London Boris Johnson is to make a guest appearance on the BBC soap EastEnders later this year. He will appear in a scene set in the show's Queen Vic pub where he has an argument with landlady Peggy Mitchell, who is played by Barbara Windsor. The scene will be in an episode showing Peggy, who recently became involved in local politics, enduring a frustrating time trying to track him down. The scene with Mr Johnson was filmed last Friday and will air this autumn. " - BBC | |
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